Belt pickups for agricultural combines are agricultural harvesting heads that gather previously cut crop plants that have been gathered into windrows. They include an endless conveyor belt extending forward from the front of the belt pickup that lifts the windrow up and feeds it rearward into the feeder house of an agricultural combine.
The windrows vary in their height and density depending upon the bulk of the crop that was harvested and gathered. As a result of this variation, the feeder house conveyor in the agricultural combine will occasionally jam with excess cut crop material.
When the feeder house is jammed in this manner, the operator stops the forward motion of the combine and reverses the feeder house conveyor to eject the lump of cut crop material jamming the feeder house conveyor. This sends the lump forward and deposits it back into the belt pickup.
Once the lump has been ejected, the operator restarts the feeder house conveyor and the endless conveyor belt of the belt pickup.
One problem with this arrangement is that the lump of cut crop material is occasionally drawn back into the feeder house and jams the feeder house again. At this point, the operator will repeat the process of clearing the feeder house conveyor. If the lump is particularly large and this does not work, the operator may have to eject the lump, climb down from the operator's cabin and remove the lump from the belt pickup. This is a time-consuming process.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved system for clearing a feeder house and belt pickup. It is an object of this invention to provide such a system.